Snap-locking yoke.



I. F. OCONNOR.

SNAP LOCKING YOKE. APPLICATION FILED APII.21.YI9Ia.

Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

I INVENToR.

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UNITED t STATES PATENT oEEioE.

JOHN F. OCONNOR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM' MINER, OF

` CHAZY, NEW YORK.

SNAP-LOCKING YOKE.

Specication of Letters Patent.

l Patented Dees, 191s.

l'Application led April 27, 1918. Serial No. 231,106.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, JOHN F. OCoNNoR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in .Snap-Locking Yokes, of which the following is a full, clear, c oncise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in snap locking yokes.

One object of the invention is to proyide a hooded yoke for railway draft riggings havin integral means coperable with the shoul ers of a standard draw bar and so designed that, when the yoke and draw bar are assembled with the elements of a shock absorbing mechanism, the yoke and draw bar are operatively connected and positively prevented from disengagement: i

Another object of the invention is. to .provide a yoke for railway draftriggings, wherein the yoke is formed Wlth inherently resilient yoke arms adapted to be sprung from normal in such a way as to permit a draw bar butt to be slipped into position with respect to the yoke arms, the yoke arms upon being released then automatically springing into operative position. In the drawing forming part ofthis speci- Iication, Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a portion of a draw bar and one form of my improved yoke connected thereto.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the structureA illustrated in Fig. 1, parts of the yoke being broken away. Fig. 3 is a vertical, transverse, sectional view, taken on the line 3.-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal, vertical sectional view, taken substantially centrally of the draw bar and yoke and illusti'atingl the manner in which the'yoke arms are adapted to be sprung from normal position to permit the insertion or removal `ot the draw bar, the latter being shown in elevation. Fig. 5 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1, but illustrating another embodiment of the invention. And Fig. 6 is a transverse, sectional view, taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5. v

Referring first to the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, 10 denotes the shank of a standard draw bar having the butt thereof provided with the usual upper and lower shoulders 11 and 12. The improved yoke is designated generally by the reference A.

As shown, the yoke A is in the form of a casting or other suitable material having the quality of inherent resiliency to permit flexing of the upper and lower yoke arms 13 and 14. The yoke arms are preferably integrally connected at their rear ends, as indicated at 15.

At their forward ends, the yoke arms 13 and 14 are provided with spaced side plates 16 and 17 respectively, the former extending downwardy from the main portion of the arm 13 and the latter extending upwardly from the main portion of the lower arm 14. It will be evident from inspection of Figs. 1, 3 and 4, that the effect of a hollow rectangular hood is produced at the forward end of the yoke within which the butt of the draw bar is adapted to be received.

The yoke arms 13 and 14 are provided with transversely extending gibs or shoulders 18 and 19 respectively, adapted to cooperate with the draw bar shoulders 12 and 11, respectively. It will be noted that the transverse shoulder 19 is formed at the upper portion of the side wall`17 which constitutes a portion of the lower yoke arm 14 and similarly, thev shoulder 18 is formed at the'lower portion of the wall 16 which is made integral with the upper arm 13.

In order to brace the upper shoulder 19, a substantially triangular shaped -integral web 20 is provided and a corresponding similar web 21 is formed integrally with the shoulder 18 at the bottom of the draw bar butt. The forward end of the upper arm 13 is suitably cut away, as indicated at 23, to provide the necessary clearance for the web 20.

As clearly appears from Figs. 1 and 4 the triangular shaped front ends of each of the yoke arms and the triangular webs 20 and 21 are normally spaced Afrom the adjacent upper and lower surfaces vof the draw bar butt, a distance eo|ual` to or slightly greater than the distance whichzthe shoulders 11 and 19 and 12 and 18 are overlapped so that the arms of the yoke may be sprung or forced toward each other in the manner indicated most clearly in Fig. 4 and thus separate the shoulders 18 and 19 a distance sufcient to permit the insertion and Withdrawal of the draw bar butt.

The manner of assembling the draw bar andyoke will be apparent from the preceding description, particularly when consldered in connection with Fig. 4. Upon release of the forces utilized to compress or spring together the arms of the yoke, the lat-ter will automatically spring back to their normal parallel position, as lndlcated 1n Fig. 1. When the shock absorbing mechanism is inserted within the yoke, the front follower 24 thereof (which is indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1) will, of course, prevent the arms of the yoke being sprung toether. Obviously, the yoke arms can not e spread apart from their normal position due to the engagement of the draw bar w1th the said webs 20 and 21. In other words, when the draw bar and yoke are assembled and in position, the draw bar and yoke are effectively interlocked and can not be disconnected. In this manner, I obtain a detachable draw bar and yoke connection without the aid of 'any transverse keys or other detachable members, the locking elements being integrally formed on the yoke and the latter being adapted for cooperation with any standard draw bar whether the latter has coupler key slots or not.

In the form illustrated in Fi s. 5 and 6, the draw bar 110 is shown as of t e standard type having upper and lower shoulders 111 and 112. The yoke A has similar parallel arms 113l and 114 as the yoke shown in the first four figures. In this form, however, the upper yoke arm 113 is provided with an integral upper transverse shoulder or gib 118 and the lower yoke arm with a corresponding lower transverse shoulder or gib 119. Said shoulders 118 and 119 arecoperable respectively with the draw bar shoulders 111 and 112.

In order to form the hooded effect for inclosing the draw bar butt, the lower yoke arm 114 is provided with an upwardly extending side wall 117 and the upper yoke arm with a downwardly extending opposed side wall or plate 116.

The construction shown in Figs. 5 and 6 is slipped over the draw bar or the latter slipped within the yoke by spreading the yoke arms 113 and 114 from normal a dis-v tance suflicient to let the draw bar butt pass between the shoulders 118 and 119.

In order to prevent disengagement of the draw bar and yoke after the same are assembled, the side wall 117 is provided at its upper end with a rearward extension 40 and the other side wall 116 with'a lower rearward extension 41. Said extensions 40 and 41 are of such length as to overlap the usual front follower 124 of the shock absorbing mechanism so that, when the follower is in place. the yoke arms 113 and 114 cannot be spread apart, as will be apparent from inspection of Fig. 5. `The extensions 40 and '41 will be made long enough so as to always insure their engagement with the follower 124 even under the maximum draft.

Although I have herein shown and described the preferred manner of carrying out my invention, the same is merely illustrative and I contemplate. all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. In a yoke of the character described having integrally formed upper and lower arms, each arm having atransverse shoulder adapted to coperate with' a shoulder of a standard draw bar. said yoke being formed of inherently resilient material permitting fiexing of the yoke arms from normal position, said yoke having means coperable with a draw bar and the front follower of a shock absorbing mechanism when the three said elements are assembled, said means pre- Venting said' yoke arms from being fiexed in either direction from normal position.

2. As an article of manufacture, a yoke for railway draft riggings, said yoke includ.

mg a pair of upper and lower spaced, integrally formed yoke arms. one arm having a side plate at one side of the yoke and the other arm a side plate at the opposite side to thereby form a hood at the forward end of the yoke, said yoke arms having means cooperable with the shoulders of a standard draw bar butt for operatively connecting the yoke to a draw bar.

3. The combination with a draw bar having a shouldered butt. of a yoke. said yoke having a hooded forward end within which the butt is received. a horizontal and a side wall being formed integrally with each yoke arm., said yoke arms being adapted to be sprung from their normal parallel position,

'and means coperable with the shoulders of the draw bar for operatively connecting the yoke and draw bar. v

4. As an article of manufacture, a. yoke for railway draft riggings, said yoke comprlsing upper and lower connected arms, the upper arm of said yoke being provided at its forward end with a transverse shoulder anda depending side wall, the lower arm being provided with a transverse shoulder and an upwardly extending side wall arranged opposite to the first named side wall, each of said side walls being provided with a rearward extension at its end farthest removed from the yoke arm with which it is integrally formed, said extensions being adapted to overlap the front follower of a shock absorbing mechanism assembled within the yoke.

5. In a device of the character described the combination with a draw bar provided transverse shoulder at its forward end bled with the draw bar, said follower engagadapted to engage one of the shoulders 'of ing portions of the yoke arms at the rear of the draw bar when the arms of the yoke are vthe drawbar when all of the parts are asin their normal, operative, spaced relation, sembled and arran ed to prevent relative 5 said shoulders of the yoke arms bein adaptmovement between t e arms of the yoke from 15 ed to be slipped over the butt of t e draw normal to abnormal positions.

bar while the yoke arms are in abnormal re- In witness that I claim the foregoing I lation with respect to each other, and a front have hereunto subscribed my name t is 11th follower insertible laterally between the day of April, 1918.

10 arms of the yoke when the latter is assem- JOHN F. OCONN OR. 

